If you’re a dog owner, you’ll be all too familiar with the trouble that they can cause when they go out into a garden.
Although of course we want our furry friends to enjoy our gardens as much as we do, they do have a tendency to cause some damage when they’re playing!
One of the most common issues that we hear our customers face is their dogs having a good old dig under the garden fence.
Not only can this be a frustrating job to fix, but in more extreme cases, it can also be worrying, especially if your dog gets close to escaping the garden.
Thankfully, there are plenty of ticks and tricks that you can use to stop this from happening, and ensure your pet is kept safe and secure in your garden.
In this guide, the Barnard Fencing team have explained why dogs often dig under fences, and shared their solutions (both behavioural and practical) to prevent this from occurring.
Why do dogs dig under fences?
There are a number of reasons why dogs like to dig under fences. These include:
- Curiosity and wanting to explore (especially if they encounter smells, noises or other animals on the other side of the fence)
- Boredom (especially if they haven’t had much mental or physical stimulation)
- Separation anxiety when apart from their owners, or left alone
- Following their hunting instinct
- To escape the heat during hot weather
By understanding what’s causing your dog to dig under the fence, you can more effectively resolve the issue.
Behavioural solutions to stop dogs digging under your fence
Before you start making changes to your fence itself, we recommend starting by trying out these behavioural strategies. (It might help you to keep your dog feeling calmer, and save some money at the same time!).
Solutions to consider include:
- Providing additional training or calming techniques, to alleviate separation anxiety
- Increasing your dog’s exercise
- Giving your dog more stimulation (e.g. through more playtime and training)
- Correcting digging as soon as you spot it, and rewarding good behaviour
- Creating a designated digging area in your garden
- Spending more time in areas where they are safe to dig (e.g. local woodlands)
Practical fencing solutions to stop dogs digging under your fence
However, if those behavioural strategies don’t work, then you’ll need to make some safety changes to the fence itself.
Effective physical fencing solutions to keep pets safe include:
- Extending your fencing panels underground, burying them at least 30-60cm under the ground (to make tunnelling underneath much more difficult)
- Adding a barrier, such as gravel boards or concrete edging
- Installing an L-shaped wire mesh along the fence line
- Laying a row of paving slabs, stones or bricks along the base of the fence line
- Maintaining your fence regularly, ensuring that there are no weak spots (e.g. loose panels) where digging is made easier
At Barnard Fencing, we supply and install an extensive range of premium quality fencing.
These strong, durable solutions represent a great long-term investment, and are ideally suited to creating a pet-safe garden.
What’s more, with our expert fitting service – delivered by highly trained, fully qualified experts – you can ensure your fence is installed in a way that ticks all your specific boxes. This includes the addition of extra safety measures, such as gravel boards and reinforced bases.
If you’d like to find out more about the range of fencing that we have available, or to enlist our team to install new fencing in your garden, don’t hesitate to get in touch.
